MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 9/17/19

Yu Darvish has been filthy as of late, and he's primed for another monster evening. Which other expensive players should you think about?

Just like in other sports, the focal point of your daily fantasy baseball lineups will be your high-priced studs. These guys take up by far the biggest chunk of your cap space, but they also offer the highest ceiling, and in the case of pitcher, by far the highest floors for production.

For hitters, we're looking for guys with big numbers, strong matchups, and with players around them that are likely to produce well too, increasing our chances for runs and RBI. For pitchers, we want big strikeout numbers, while the ability to go deep in a game and pick up a win is also valuable.

Taking up so much salary, and playing such a big role in your lineup's ceiling, you're not going to want to whiff on these guys, so let's take a look at a few top-end options that you can count on to anchor your lineup today.

Yu Darvish, SP, Chicago Cubs ($10,400)

Surging down the stretch are the Chicago Cubs, and if you needed one arm to carry the water for Chicago, it's definitely been Yu Darvish.

Long known for his incredible stuff, Darvish has harnessed his walk rate and exploded ever since. Dating back to post All-Star break and 11 starts, spanning 66 1/3 innings, the righty has clocked in for a 2.44 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, and a silly 93 whiffs against only six walks. That's not a typo.

Now, he faces a Cincinnati Reds team that is only 22nd in team wOBA (.313), so expect another monster night from Darvish.

Yordan Alvarez, OF, Houston Astros ($4,100)

As the dog days of summer start to wind down a bit, the Houston Astros are fighting the New York Yankees for the top of the playoff food chain in the American League.

In the first game after the All-Star break, Lance Lynn, tonight's starter for the Texas Rangers, absolutely dominated this squad -- but Lynn has been a bit rough lately. In his last five starts, he has averaged only 29 FanDuel points, and guys like Yordan Alvarez have feasted on right-handed pitching.

This year, the precocious young rook has rocked his way to a .672 slugging percentage and 1.099 OPS against righties, so with Lynn struggling a bit, Alvarez could pounce here.

Marcus Semien, SS, Oakland Athletics ($4,100)

In the year of the rabbit baseball, Marcus Semien has been on fire, and he smoked his 30th home run last night, setting a new career high.

But where Semien has done his most damage is against same-sided arms like he will see tonight in Jorge Lopez. He owns a .523 slugging percentage in this split, and in peeking at Lopez's numbers, Semien could go off today.

Lopez owns average marks of a 21.0% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate, and 38.5% hard-hit rate on the year. Righties have teed off for a 1.37 home runs per nine innings pitched against him. Look for Semien to maintain his hot play.


Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.